12 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:1— Jan., 1920 



One is delighted with the princely palms, of which there are 

 several, and which are put to various uses. They add immeasur- 

 ably to the landscapes. Up in the hills the tree-ferns rear their 

 wonderful crowns above the shrubbery foliage of more prosaic 

 and lowlier vegetation and it cannot fail to thrill a nature lover 

 to see them growing here right out-of-doors and uncared for. 

 Oranges grow wild in these districts and are excellent. Indeed, 

 the bulk of all oranges eaten here or shipped away are from wild 

 seedling trees. There are many kinds of bananas and plantains, 

 which form a large part of the diet of the native population, and 

 are eaten raw or cooked in various ways. Other fruits there are, 

 novel in looks and flavor, and strange kinds of vegetables. One 

 kind of breadfruit has fruits filled with fruits called "chestnuts" 

 which are boiled and eaten, — they do look like real chestnuts, 

 although they are as large as the Italian varieties and what is 

 more, they taste like chestnuts. 



Amidst all the wealth of vegetation and tropical luxuriance, 

 however, one finally comes to miss flowers. True, there are some 

 very conspicuous ones, but there is no abundance as in the North- 

 ern States, where the shorter growing-season spurs the plants on 

 to bloom quickly and profusely. Here, nature seems never to 

 paint the landscape with sweeping strokes of color. There are 

 no such sights as roadsides gloried with dandelions, banks lit 

 with autumn asters and flaring goldenrod, or fields where golden- 

 rod or buttercups spread the cloth-of-gold. Daisies and clover 

 are unknown here. 



Everything is so different to what one has known in the tem- 

 perate North that one is apt to overlook the likenesses which under- 

 lie both zones in life conditions and habits. How do the birds 

 know when to mate and nest? — Yet they do so regularly. When 

 are leaves to be shed? — Yet some trees are regularly deciduous 

 and remain bare during a part of the year. When can plants 

 flower and produce seed with best chances of survival? They do, 

 each in its own time. And when should men sow or plant their 

 crops? For them, too, there are special times best for planting, 

 growth and harvest. Old Mother Nature is the same at heart, 

 the world over, and she treats and trains her children the same, 

 wherever, whoever they be. 



